Lost in the Dark
by Pythonmelon
Summary: A girl from Hoenn learns to face adversity and team magma no matter what it takes to save her pokemon
1. Chapter 1

People will always tell you when you are lost to stay put. When fear has you in its claws, can you really stand to not do that? I guess, as I have told myself and been told many times, I should have ignored that advice though. But in a dark more bleak than I had ever known, with smoke and fire clogging my senses and a wall of rock locking me inside a virtual furnace, I couldn't well do that. Not and survive that is.

While Treecko isn't exactly the best pokemon to walk into a cave full of fire-breathing, spitting, or shooting animals he was all I had. Devon was the first pokemon I had ever gotten, and still the only one I had. I didn't want to try and catch any more until I knew I could handle them. Now I was preparing to prove to myself just that. I had had Devon since I was six but had never bothered to train him very hard. But now that I had turned ten I wanted to start taking a future as a trainer seriously.

In Hoenn, Lavaridge was probably the quietest town. Other than the gym and the coming and going of seniors to the hot springs nothing really happened. I would be one of the first, and youngest, trainers from here to get all eight gym badges. But I guess I needed the first one as a start.

This was why I was entering the caves to train. I had played in here often before while my dad's kangashkan watched me. But now I was alone except for my faithful companion, ready to take on the world. The world was ready to take me on as well.

After a few hours of wandering at a safe distance from the entrance in the cave, which was internally lit from the faint glow that the steamy ground had, I was ready to go home. Devon and I were both exhausted and I was out of potions. Yawning and rubbing my light brown eyes I didn't pay the best attention to where I was walking.

Suddenly there was a soft squishing noise from under my foot and a small squeal. A cloud of angry steam floated up from under my foot and I felt the beginning of a small burn as something melted through the sole of my shoe. Since my Treecko was tucked safely in his pokeball, napping, and I didn't have time to grab him before a hissing, steaming slugma was advancing on me. I had knocked out like eight of these already but with nothing to protect me I could only run.

The bright red slug creature, irate at being stepped on and obviously of a hasty nature, kept on following me. It was moving at, well, a slugs pace. I thought I could outrun it easily. Too bad the darn thing knew lava plume. Soon I found the entire section of the cavern erupting into smoke and flame as it belched scorching melted rock at me. It was close enough that the bubbling liquid missed me but it was sending acrid smoke and ash into my face, my eyes. I shrieked in pain and fear. I knew I had to flee before it tried again and started to shut my eyes from the burning air. But I couldn't, not and be sure I wouldn't hit a wall or the bright red slug itself. The walls were rumbling and I stumbled, screaming, as the results of the slugma's outburst brought down a wall on it. It rained hot rocks and dust down on us both as the weakest part of the cave fell in on itself. I was coughing, feeling volcanic ash lay on my face like warm snow. I shook, my eyes still stinging awfully, but looked forward at the wall again. It was blurry and my eyes filled with tears in an attempt to flush the grime out of themselves. I whimpered in horror, knowing I would have to go all the way up the mountain to the cable car station to get home.

But I didn't want to think of heading off now. My dad always told me if I was lost or hurt I needed to stay put. So I did.

Deep here in the cave the smoke took several hours to float away. I tried to keep my eyes open so I didn't run into another pokemon. The slugma had long since fled but I was too scared, mind clogged with smoke, to blink for more than a second in case it returned for a second helping. As the hours passed I became hungry and sat down, tired. The ash was no better down here. With nowhere else to go and no breeze to shoo it off the ash and dust still drifted, dreamily, around and into my face. My eyes continued to water and I rubbed them. They stung loudly and left an itching feeling somewhere inside and I quickly stopped.

As things grew dark around me, my fear growing, I closed my eyes finally after a few minutes of sitting in frayed dark I believed to be oncoming sleep.

The morning came and my temperamental little attacker did not return. I shook my head tiredly from the sleep, realizing I was covered in the ash that had finally sifted down and pooled into a blanket over the ground I was on. I smiled when I realized what I thought was the worst had ended.

"Go, Devon." I muttered sleepily, clicking the pokeball open. Soon I felt him nudging me gently and I sat up, rubbing my neck tiredly. My eyes still burned but I forced them open. Only darkness greeted me.

The cable car operator, a red headed woman in her late forties, was tapping her manicured blue nails on the dash board in boredom. She wondered how the cleanup team was doing with that cave-in from three days ago. She hoped they would be finished soon and the caves would no longer be off-limits to anyone so traffic between Lavaridge and the mountaintop could resume. At least she would have something more interesting to do than run empty cars up the mountain.

She glanced up from her romance book at the mouth of the cave and sat up straighter. A panting, exhausted Treecko was emerging. It was holding a small girl's hand. She couldn't have been any older than ten. The girl was wearing a filthy shirt that may have been pink once. The blue sunglasses on them were obscured by a black smear.

The girl's face, covered in soot, had tear streaks down it. She stumbled aimlessly, holding the concerned looking Pokémon's hand for guidance. Her brown hair hung limply over her face, most of it having escaped the loose ponytail that stuck off the top of her head in a dirty fountain.

But what struck the woman hardest as the eyes. They were bloodshot, seemingly stained grey, and glassy. Ash ringed them like the fur around a zigzagoon's eyes. The girl's eyes, like the rest of her, were dirty. This as the factor that made the woman break from her freeze and grab the phone to call for help.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing that came to the girl as the heavy anesthesia she had been given two days before begun to wear off was hunger. Then distress. She opened her eyes but could not see- the entire world was dark. It was a heavy cloud of sounds that seemed too loud, faint scents, and sensitive movement all around her. She almost jumped when a hand fell on her small, limp fingers.

"There you are, my little girl." Her father smiled. She could hear it in his voice, the happiness. "Sonya, we were so worried." His hand gripped hers, lightly, as if afraid it would crumble on the bed sheets. There was a soft snort and she assumed kangashkan was here too. "How do you feel?"

"I-" She shook her head, trying to clear it through the grog. "I'm okay I guess… tired… but where's Devon?" The girl moved her head as if examining the room, more confused than ever. "Is everything in the cave alright? Why is it still so dark?" Naturally she had imagined for the three days in the cave that she had merely had something stuck in her eyes- ash maybe. But now she felt starved but well enough and still could not see.

There was a soft sigh. He sounded sad. The man squeezed her hand ever so slightly. "Well, Sonya, the ash damaged your eyes very badly." She blinked, hearing the upset in his normally serious yet jolly soprano voice. Sonya had never known you could tell so much from just the sound of a person. "The doctors say there's no chance that you'll ever see again."

Quiet. She remembered the cave. How she had depended only on what she heard, the smells of fire and where it came from, the feel of the walls, and Devon's guiding hand. How horrible it had been. Was he saying she had to continue that for the rest of her life? "But dad, can't they do something about it? Flush my eyes, surgery?" She asked, voice wavering. Her stomach growled. The girl felt that seed of discomfort growing.

Tobias looked at his daughter's eyes. They had lost a fair amount of color, leaving them an almost grey color. They rolled a little and found him, and it was almost as if she could see him. But they were blank like a pokedoll's eyes. A few tears welled up and spilled down her flushed cheeks. "I'm sorry, I really am. If there was something they could do I would make them try it, but they can't." He pressed a button to sit the bed up and then hugged his daughter tenderly. "I'm sorry honey." He sat back and then she heard a sad smile in his tone. "But I swear I'll get you the best guide growlithe there is."

"No!" She suddenly snapped, eyes widening. The girl fought off where she was resting on the bed and nodded. "Nothing that breathes fire! No fire!" He sat back a little nervously, and then coughed.

"Uhm…" He tried to think of something. "And electrike? Maybe a mightyena?"

"Can't I keep using Devon?" She frowned. "He did great in the caves."

The dad looked uncomfortably at her Treecko. It smiled, a tad prideful, but still concerned. It grabbed her hand protectively. He shook his head lightly. "I….suppose so…But I want you to keep more pokemon with you than just him." He smiled. "I will send you to your aunt's house in Petalburg. She's an adventurer, like your mother was. She can take you to catch some nice new pokemon."

"Thanks daddy." She smiled tiredly, again.

"Here you go, sweetie." Sonya's aunt Hilda said as she held the girl's hand, leading her into Rusturf tunnel. Treecko stayed close to her, looking around in the shadows at the pokemon that lingered there. A few whismur, murmuring, scurried away. "Do you have your pokeballs?"

"Yeah." She smiled, nodding a little. Though it was still dark she was already adjusting after three weeks. Her dad had just dropped her off here in Rustboro city yesterday but Hilda wanted to get on fixing her up with some new pokemon as fast as possible. "Do you see any whismur?" Since they were cute and close by the little blind girl had topped her list off with one. And they were quiet. That she enjoyed.

"Yep." The woman smiled before sending Treecko forward. "There, use leech seed!" She commanded quickly and Treecko, powerful in himself, seeded a squirming, suddenly shrieking pokemon. They began to sprout roots, breaking into its skin, and it instantly began to grow weak.

Sonya felt her senses overloaded as it screamed and covered her ears. "It sounds hurt!" She was still scared at the actual violence that it took to capture a pokemon.

"Shh…" Hilda patted her head. "Don't worry, he's only scared. In just a minute we'll have him in a nice homey pokeball and on the way to a pokemon center." She promised tenderly, trying to soothe her. Speaking of which, Treecko tackled and held down the whismur. "Okay, Devon," She said confidently. "Back up and let Sonya catch the little cutie!"

The ten-year-old smiled and took the pokeball from her belt before rearing back and tossing it, trapping the whismur inside. It was shaking roughly at first but slowed and finally relaxed. The girl's aunt picked it up gently and handed the container to Sonya. "There you go, he's all yours love. Do you want to name him?"

"Yeah." She said, quietly. "I'm going to name him Discord. Does that sound okay?" There was still a holding power, feeling strong at having control over a Pokémon's entire life. But she shook it off.

"Sounds lovely." Hilda began to walk the girl back outside into the light. "Perfectly fitting."

Hilda was handling Sonya because the girl's mother, and Hilda's sister, was gone. They had been twin trainers of great skill. Neither had bothered to become champions but both easily conquered at least two regions though. Sonya's mom, though, had settled down and went back to simple training. She had married Tobias, and had their daughter. But she had left (if that's what you dared call it) they day her daughter was born.

In a freak accident the woman had gone out to get some fresh air a few hours after Sonya was born. A fearow, and old, scarred, nasty bird, had attacked. It was easily larger than her and fierce as a tyranitar. The bird had descended before anyone could make a counter move and the weak woman was swept away and devoured.

Sonya hated that story. It scared the daylights out of her. That's why she had only been told it once. Otherwise people were quiet about her mother's demise. It somehow made the girl feel like it was her fault. But she did know it wasn't and went on with her life. It was only a scary bedtime story.

Within a few weeks she was back home, learning to clean up after and care for her pokemon. The girl was also learning brail, reading on each of the new pets on her six-pokemon team through her fingers. Treecko still stayed by her side as a guide friend more than anything. The rest of the team was comprised of this-

The whismur, Discord, that had a quiet nature. Her aron from granite cave was named Damon. It was quite shy and liked to hide under her bed, playing peekaboo and grabbing her feet on more than one occasion. The trapinch she had gotten in the dessert on the way back home was bold but not hasty. Since she was the only female, Dasti was about as close to the girl as anyone else. There was also a curious little Sableye, Desmond, and finally a bubbly little seal, Denny.

She smiled as Sableye scuttled up her shoulder and nibbled at her arm, wanting food. The girl patted it tenderly and pulled some pea-gravel, which was cheap half-formed diamonds, from her pocket and it munched into the before nuzzling her and purring very lightly.

The girl picked up and hugged the blue seal pokemon. "How cute." She giggled, imagining what it looked like. The aron she had caught all on her own skipped up. She believed it to be a larvitar and, having not mentioned it; people assumed she knew it was an aron.

Her dad peeked into the room gently. He smiled at his daughter, who continued to feel lightly over the page of brail as if it was as natural as normal reading. The man sighed silently, knowing they were slowly and steadily getting past this.


	3. Chapter 3

"Pooch-eyena!" A Pokémon barked, running around a child's ankles. The three-year-old girl giggled happily and petted the jolly natured Pokémon's head. "Poo-pooch." It cooed and nuzzled her palm.

"Daddy can we keep him?" The child begged.

"Her." The young woman sitting at the booth said. "The poochyena is a her, and a prize one at that." She smiled.

"But can we?" The little girl looked up at her father with enormous puppy eyes.

The man groaned and rubbed his forehead. He then smiled at his daughter. "Of course sweetie." He pulled out his wallet as the pup nibbled on his daughter's arm. "How much?"

"Four hundred, sir."

He grumbled and handed the woman a credit card.

Instead of taking it herself, a grovyle took the card and slid it over the portable card reader he and his trainer had gotten about three years ago. It was much better than taking cash for the specially bred Pokémon because, for obvious reasons, not many people carried around hundreds of dollars cash. The grass Pokémon returned the card to its owner.

"Here, a complimentary collar with a bell and a chew toy." The young woman smiled and offered him a stuffed quilfish that squeaked when bitten and a blue collar.

He smiled. "Thank you." Before departing with his family's new pet.

Sonya smiled. The teenager, now seventeen, tucked her copy of the receipt into her little organized box, all parts marked in braille, including the receipts themselves. She hated the pity over 'poor blind girl all on her own'. Especially when that would be spread, and all would hear. Even the criminals.

God she hated the criminals. Not like the ones who stole Pokémon or anything, but the ones that targeted the handicapped. The weak ones. Most criminals at least had enough dignity to go after people who could fend for themselves. Of course she wasn't usually one of those people who couldn't fend for themselves.

The girl had her fair share of misdeeds done to her since becoming 'the blind girl'. It hadn't bothered her at first but then, after the stealing just got worse and then, finally, a man tried to rape her. She was fifteen at the time, and put her foot down the moment he laid a finger on her. The man didn't get a trial for three months, mostly because he was recovering in the hospital. Lairons can do a lot of internal damage when they want to, apparently. So can a pissed off friend, like her buddy Mindy.

So she didn't tell she was blind. She was careful. She kept her Pokémon with her at all times, one always out. And she was happy. The girl glanced around the breeder's convention center, and smiled.

After her accident Sonya had given up her dream of being a trainer and champion. It just didn't seem to be realistic any more. Soon after the girl had fallen into a deep and depressing rut. Her father had become depressed as well and tried to find some way for her to lighten up again, almost desperate after four weeks. He hated the feeling of anyone sad in his presence. That's why he worked so hard to make people happy. But, it didn't seem to work.

Until one day she found out that her vibrava had become pregnant, by what she didn't know. At first she was worried and confused, and found herself studying what would happen. She began to become more interested as she learned, and even insisted on being there when the vet delivered the egg. When he had first handed it to her before giving the egg over to Dasti the girl had felt odd. The thing in her arms was warm, loving, and alive. The shell was still slightly soft, wet. She felt an explosive love for the tiny creature inside immediately.

So that is what she decided to do. To bring Pokémon into this world, and care for them. She became a breeder and started up her own traveling business when she was fifteen. Her dad was okay with her leaving the nest for only two reasons- She had sworn to visit every month and her team was at a high enough level- at least the middle evolution- to keep her safe.

So, business hadn't sprung up at first. She had a lot of competition and a lot of it was still here today. Just listening around her made that evident. She had had to work her little butt off for months to prove that she was good enough to be hired, even though there was still the deterring fact that she was handicapped with blindness. It took months, only to get one client. And she was more of a friend than anything. Thankfully it had opened up a new set of possible clients that got her on her way.

Now she was working alongside the friend- Mindy Summers- almost all the time. When she wasn't traveling on her bike that was. She had clients all through the regions and she did have to see them some times, not just deliver their Pokémon through the PC. For now she was working alone, since Mindy was off training her zangoose. Good God, she thought, that thing must be level bazillion by now.

About then there was a tapping on her counter and she looked back, surprised. "Yes? How may I help you?"

He nodded. "I was wondering if you had any growlithe? My wife really wants one."

She immediately frowned, slightly fearful. "Uh, no. I apologize sir. I don't breed fire types."

"Why not?" He grumbled.

"Look, sir, I'm terribly sorry. There are many other breeders with good fire-type specimens." She frowned, growing slightly frustrated.

He took a step back. "Fine, fine. So much for best breeder in the five regions." He stormed off. Sonya drooped like a wilting flower, chin resting almost against her supple breasts. She sat back up quietly and adjusted her purple-and-grey striped visor, bearing her typical sign of a pokeball of the same colors. It was also displayed on her white half shirt, which was inadvertently layered over a purple-and-grey tank top. She frowned and leaned against the table. "I hate this." She murmured.

Not working, no, she didn't hate that. She hated her strong but far from irrational fear of fire types or fire in general. She just couldn't stand being around them. It had ruined her dream, her eyesight, and even her appearance. She didn't just keep these glasses on to protect her eyes, no way. They hid the stained, burnt grey things she called eyes. Just about everyone flinched if she removed her glasses, excluding Mindy that was. Mostly because Mindy couldn't even see out of her own goggles.

She also hated not only that the fear lost business, but that it made her a weaker trainer. She couldn't keep a balanced team with any fire types, even though it was a pretty strong team in itself. They were no good towards Ice types really. It ticked her off that she couldn't spend enough time with a rapidash to figure out how to slaughter grass types and get through the Pokémon league. That was, if she had wanted to. She didn't have any desire to become a professional trainer anymore (especially because she couldn't get a real trainers license, being handicapped, and therefore couldn't legally challenge a gym.) but it would be pretty cool to have a good fire type. Darn that slugma.

She stood and went to get something to eat, following her grovyle with one arm linked around his.


End file.
